There were significantly fewer injuries in football games in the 2024/25 season in Germany than in the previous season, even though more fans came to the stadiums. At the same time, there was significantly more use of pyrotechnics.
This is the balance sheet in the annual report of the Central Information Center for Sports Operations (ZIS) at the North Rhine-Westphalia police. 1,107 people were injured in connection with games in the Bundesliga, the 2nd Bundesliga and the 3rd men’s league. This means a decrease of more than 17 percent; in the 2023/24 season the number was 1,338 injured people.
And this despite the fact that the number of visitors to the stadiums increased by almost 15 percent from 24.3 million to 32.95 million.
Police with fewer working hours
According to the report, the police initiated 5,197 criminal proceedings, 22 percent fewer than in the previous season. Almost half of the crimes registered were bodily harm, resistance, breach of the peace and damage to property.
The workload for the police also fell, but is still classified as high in the report: the state police authorities and the federal police worked around 2.6 million hours in connection with football games, which means a decrease of almost 9 percent.
Significantly more misuse of pyrotechnics
Despite this “Bright spots” give it “There is still a lot to do for the state and federal police authorities”said a statement from the ZIS. In contrast, there was an increase of 73 percent to 4,783 violations in the misuse of pyrotechnics. “The responsible organizers must therefore counteract the abusive use of pyrotechnics in the stadiums even more consistently.”said the head of the ZIS, Police Director Michael Madre.
For years, pyrotechnics have sparked discussions between active fan scenes on the one hand and politicians, police and associations on the other. For many fans, pyrotechnics are an inseparable part of a lively fan culture – politicians, police and associations repeatedly point out the dangers of burning things down. Compromises for controlled burning have not been achieved in the past.
Pyrotechnics on the south stand in Dortmund
NRW Interior Minister calls for consistent action
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) expressed criticism in the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung despite the decline in the number of injuries. “The fact that over 1,000 people are injured in a football season is and remains unacceptable.”said Reul. Violence, riots and the misuse of pyrotechnics have nothing to do with real fan culture.
But the police cannot solve the problem alone. “The only thing that helps is action by clubs and stadium operators”said the North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister.
Fan Support Association criticizes distorted representation
The umbrella organization of fan aids recently criticized allegations of escalating violence as distorted and factually incorrect: “The stadiums are full, criminal charges and injuries have been at an absolute per thousand level for years and folk festivals like Oktoberfest certainly give more cause for concern in this regard than a visit to Germany’s football venues.”